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Bitcoin [BTC]: Niall Ferguson accepts he was wrong about cryptocurrency turning out to be a delusion

The acceptance and adoption of Bitcoin [BTC] and other cryptocurrencies across the spectrum has come a long way, thanks to the contributions of several proponents and critics of the industry. One of the first critics to have come around to the idea of Bitcoin is British financial historian, Niall Ferguson. He was previously a staunch critic of the cryptocurrency field and had even stated that Bitcoin would “turn out to be a complete delusion”.

In the recently concluded Australian Financial Review Business Summit, Ferguson stated,

“I was very wrong. Wrong to think there was no […] use for a form of currency based on blockchain technology.”

The historian revealed that he had completely dismissed the idea of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, despite his son coaxing him into buying some. Ferguson had reportedly claimed that investing in something as unreliable and weird like blockchain technology was a foolish financial investment. In his words,

“If I had listened to my son, I would have increased the dollar value of my investment by a factor of 45 — or, if you prefer, I’d have made a return on the investment of 4,436%… The moral of the story is clear: when it comes to technology, pay heed to teenagers.”

During his speech at the technology summit, Ferguson said that Bitcoin’s price correction from its December 2017 high to its current $4000 valuation was not something to be extremely worried about. According to him, the price was still a long way from zero and that Bitcoin will not turn out to be a complete delusion like he thought he would.

However, Ferguson expressed skepticism about stablecoins and its functionalities, especially Tether [USDT].

Niall Ferguson had grabbed headlines previously when he stated that Bitcoin can be the financial approach to the future. He stated,

“The novelties, the things that will really matter ten years hence are still relatively small in scale. Whether its bitcoin or cryptocurrency generally or the massive revolution in online payments that is being achieved by the big Chinese tech companies, that’s the financial system of the future, and it is still small enough not to be systemically important in 2018.”